Retropolis.com Retro Tour of America - New Orleans Shotgun Houses

Submitted by Mary on Fri, 02/24/2012 - 1:42pm (2998 reads)

The next stop on the Retropolis Retro Tour of America is New Orleans, Louisiana! If you're lucky enough to visit New Orleans some day, you'll be lucky enough to see shotgun houses! There are shotgun houses elsewhere in the United States, particularly in the South, but there are so many shotgun houses in New Orleans that you'll definitely see some on your trip to New Orleans.

If you stand directly in front of a shotgun house, it looks like a tiny cottage, but if you take a few steps to the side of the house, you will see that it is much longer than it is wide. The rooms of a shotgun house often go from front to back in this order: living area in the front, a bedroom or two behind the living area, and a kitchen and bathroom are in the back.

I've read and heard conflicting history about shotgun houses, but I think they became popular around the middle of the 1800's, and their popularity came to an end after the Great Depression. As we now know, after something has been out of style for many years, people eventually start to appreciate it again. It happened with Victorian houses, and it is happening with shotgun houses too.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of shotgun houses in New Orleans, visit the Preservation Resource Center in the Warehouse District in New Orleans: http://www.prcno.org/

One more bit of trivia: If you're on a road trip around the US and you happen to be heading about 350 miles north after your stop in New Orleans, you just might get to see one of the most famous shotgun houses in America - the house where Elvis was born. Elvis Presley was born in a shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi: http://www.retropolis.com/blog/home-where-elvis-was-born

Thank you to for posting the video about New Orleans shotgun houses on YouTube!

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